How to make the IIHF World Championships more competitive?

[Jumptheshark]

Many people in this thread do not understand what games are about.

The iihf is doing more to grow the game than the nhl is.

 

[Retroglyphs]

A couple of things...

1) The "smaller" nations being this awful is something that has only popped recently, so cutting the field by close to 40% might be a tad reactionary. Of the teams you are singling out all you have to do is go back to last year and you'll see that Denmark beat Finland and entered their last prelim round game with a chance of make the QFs. If you go back two years you'll see that France beat Finland & Switzerland, and played competitive games against Canada and the Czech Rep. The same year Norway took both Finland and the Czech Rep to overtime. France ended up missing out on the QFs by a single point, and as far as I can tell Norway entered their last prelim round game with a chance to advance to the QFs.

2) There is definitely a recent trend with the bottom end teams being less competitive and getting blown out more often, and I think the IIHF should be concerned about it, but reducing the field to 10 teams only masks the root of the problem, it doesn't address it.

Excellent post, I agree with that.

 

[tony d]

I think the current format is fine. Sure there are blowouts but if we reduce the teams you'll see interest fade quickly among the lower nations who would never get to the main group if there are just 10 teams.

 

[garbageteam]

Sorry, but these are awful ideas. The current format is fine as is. It allows other nations to have a sniff at playing against world class hockey and gives fans of these countries' teams the occasion to cheer. It's pretty fantastic that a UK and Korean hockey team got the likes to play against Canada.

Blowouts happen in every major international sport. Whenever USA plays just about anybody in basketball, and if you actually follow international soccer it happens frequently. Their version of a blowout is 4-0. Really, a 4-0 loss in soccer is kind of like losing 7-0 in hockey - it's a complete rout.

 

[SaltNPeca]

I love watching Canada destroy teams

This.
I showed a European colleague today how many of the top Canadians skipped this tournament. Quanthockey is really good due to the national flags.

Maybe IIHF can create a few regional Canadian teams to split up the beast?
Like: Western Canada, Quebec, Ontario, and Atlantic Provinces.

I'm not sure GB could beat one of those, but it may be a lesser blowout.

 

[unknownbrother]

I guess its mostly because weve seen teams like Italy yo-yoing back and forth from Elite to DIV IA for 15-20 years now with no tangible benefit

Pretty sure I read we are the first country to win gold in back to back years in 1B and then 1A. Teams like Italy, France, Kazakhstan, Belarus, etc. can match the growth rate we're currently on.

Should make for an interesting tournament next year because we should be able to beat Belarus and Italy.

 

[Elvs]

10 teams? Terrible idea. Even some of the top six countries could face relegation in a bad year.

I would go down to 14. It's enough nations to grow the game, and it would motivate more players from nations like Denmark an France to accept their invitations, to help their countries avoid relegation.

 

[Nexon]

Pretty sure I read we are the first country to win gold in back to back years in 1B and then 1A. Teams like Italy, France, Kazakhstan, Belarus, etc. can match the growth rate we're currently on.

Should make for an interesting tournament next year because we should be able to beat Belarus and Italy.

I’m happy for you but I don’t see that coming. It was anomaly for them to get relegated and they will be much worse match-up for you.

 

[NinjaKick]

keep the tournament exactly the way it is, I've been so impressed with how competitive some of these games have been, and how far a lot of these countries have evolved... but push it back until the NHL playoffs are over, give the players a little rest and I think more top players will join the IIHF and it will be even better

 

[Gianpaolo]

Italy and GB between them have probably ~10 or so players at MAXIMUM who could hold their own at ~AHL level right now, and some of them are tenuous. (Bernard, D. Kostner, Morini, Bowns, O'Connor, D. Phillips, Mosey, Hammond, Dowd, Perlini) Yet both managed to stay up...

Interesting the fact that you didn't nominated any Italian Canadian player... I believe Joachim Ramoser could also be on that list: he has speed but not scoring instinct. Andreas Bernard has still no contract for the next season. May be he will really get a spot in the AHL.

 

[Appleyard]

I guess its mostly because weve seen teams like Italy yo-yoing back and forth from Elite to DIV IA for 15-20 years now with no tangible benefit

Andreas Bernard is a legit good goalie though... and Morini is a good Euro league player. But the problem in Italy is it is literally just South Tyrol and parts of Lombardy and Veneto who play hockey. Such a small group of people to draw from.

 

[MeHateHe]

The single biggest improvement to all IIHF tournaments is to add an off day between the semifinal and the final. It may be better for the fans to have no window between those two days, but an extra day to recover from the semi would make the final better and more competitive.

 

[AdamoR61]

Here are some terrible ideas:

They could do what the NHL does in the playoffs and make the refs tilt the game as much as they can to keep things close. If Canada starts to pull away from Italy in a game, the refs can start making a ton of calls on Canada, while ignoring everything Italy does, no matter how obvious. Its harder to pad a lead when your team is constantly killing penalties.

Or they could start combining lower ranked nations into a few better teams like Team Europe at the last World Cup. Perhaps putting random age restrictions only on the top 6 teams will help too. Canada can only send players under 25, USA can only send players 0ver 25. Russia has to send players between 23 ad 33, and Sweden has to send their junior team.

Or they could ban NHLers from competing, like at the last Olympics. Honestly, the NHL would probably prefer not to have their players risking injuries at the World Championships. If things are still lopsided, move on to removing KHL players next.

I like your last idea.

 

[AdamoR61]

Andreas Bernard is a legit good goalie though... and Morini is a good Euro league player. But the problem in Italy is it is literally just South Tyrol and parts of Lombardy and Veneto who play hockey. Such a small group of people to draw from.

Dude, I'm Italian and I can truly say Bernard would maybe be a backup/3rd goalie in the AHL. Although he was left out to dry facing 50+ shots in most games, he let in some pretty woeful goals.

 

[Urbanskog]

Should make for an interesting tournament next year because we should be able to beat Belarus and Italy.

Belarus can't be relegated next year and on paper they are far ahead.

 

[Salavat Yulaev]

Many people in this thread do not understand what games are about.

The iihf is doing more to grow the fame than the nhl is.

The question was How to make it more competitive. Today there is only way: to cut the list of teams and play three games series in playoff. However, you are right. It is better to wait until other teams grow up.

 

[Appleyard]

Dude, I'm Italian and I can truly say Bernard would maybe be a backup/3rd goalie in the AHL. Although he was left out to dry facing 50+ shots in most games, he let in some pretty woeful goals.

He was a good Liiga starter for a long time. Liiga is only a notch below the AHL... he is very likely better than several AHL starters last year and would likely be a solid backup.

As I said in original post... he would likely "hold his own".

 

[maclean]

but push it back until the NHL playoffs are over

Or maybe the NHL can just start in September like it should

 

[Number 57]

The lower countries need to play in the top division otherwise they will never improve.

What they could do is after the round robin have the top-8 teams advance to the semi-finals (like it is now) and have the bottom-8 teams advance to a mini tournament. They play to avoid being demoted.

In essence it is the same as now but there would be 2 playoff rounds: 1 with the top teams trying to win Gold, 1 with the bottom teams trying to be ''the best of the rest''

A lot of interest in countries such as Great Britain, Italy, France, etc could be generated with this format as they enter a competitve tournament against teams they can actually beat and make history. In the end it is like a ''division 2 tournament'' but within the top division actually

 

[WaW]

I can't for the life of me understand why people dislike the 3-2-1-0 points format. Hockey games are meant to be 60 minutes. If you win your game in 60 minutes you deserve a greater reward than if you win in a modified "next goal wins" style format.

 

[Faterson]

I can't for the life of me understand why people dislike the 3-2-1-0 points format.

I don't think "people" dislike it. Mostly just NHL league managers who promote fake parity in the league. (It's tragic that the KHL has decided to copycat the NHL in this regard, too. Hopefully, IIHF will never follow suit.)

 

[Gianpaolo]

Dude, I'm Italian and I can truly say Bernard would maybe be a backup/3rd goalie in the AHL. Although he was left out to dry facing 50+ shots in most games, he let in some pretty woeful goals.

Those comments about Bernard are a great example how Italian hockey players and coaches earn more respect abroad than in Italy. Yes, Bernard was all the time under the focus and if you absolutely want to find something wrong he did during the WC, you will find it. But as Italian to denigrate one of the best player Italy has is totally counter-productive for me.

 

[geisterpanthers]

I always find the WC way more interesting than the latter stages of the NHL playoffs that are underway when they WC is. Only if the Panthers get there again this might change lol

Been really bored of watching St. Louis vs the Sharks and even more so of watching Carolina vs Boston.

I'm looking forward to next years WC, Kazahkstan and Belarus coming up, two great hockey nations, way better than France and especially Italy, I believe we will get a way more competitive Tournament.

 

[GermanNuck]

Canadians talking about splitting their team into regions to make it even shows that North Americans and Europeans don’t share the same views regarding national teams.

If you come up with such gimmicky ideas 95% of us Europeans will lose interest I suppose

 

[robertmac43]

The inclusive nature of the tournament is needed for the sport. I personally really like the size and would not oppose it growing slightly more. It's also not like having the weaker teams takes away from entertainment value, the battle to avoid relegation is a fun thing in itself!